Sharing my first puppy training experience!

[Thuy & Hops]

 Happy New Year, everyone! I've been following DK for a while, and now finally my first post! :)

I had this video of my aussiedoodle up a few weeks ago, and there was a request for me to write a blog on how I went about training Hops. I’ve been procrastinating because I feel like I don’t have much to share. He is my first puppy and is more amazing than I could have ever hoped for, but he and I still have a lot of learning to do! I trained him using positive reinforcement (treats, clicker, praises).

I started training Hops as soon as he came home. That’s probably one of the main reasons why he is pretty obedient for his age. I read that from 7-12 weeks is the age when most rapid learning occurs, which I found to be true since Hops was able to consistently respond to the basic commands (sit, down, come, short stay) after only one week. I followed the basic rules of training, i.e., be consistent, be patient, train with and without distractions. Whenever I got the chance, I would ask friends or strangers to ask him to do something, be it “sit” or “shake”… to get him used to listening not only to me (my other dog is like that).

I didn’t plan on teaching him “tricks” until much later, since I wanted to focus on getting him to do the basic commands extremely well; to be able to walk on a loose leash, to not jump on people to greet them, to not nip, to go potty outside, etc., but even with everything we had to work on, I still found a lot of down time where he just seemed bored. He’s not a very high-energy dog, and he’s not at all destructive when he’s bored, but he moves around a lot. Training sessions, though usually very short, tend to make him crash soon after or get him into play mode with my other dog or his toys.

Our typical training session usually lasts around 5 minutes, and we have on average 2 sessions per day. We have weeks where we don’t learn new tricks, but every week he’s learning or improving on something. My BF really wants him to be able to catch a Frisbee, so I’ve been working on “hold” and him retrieving different items. Some doodles seem to just like to retrieve... Hops is not one of them, so we are training him by breaking it up into parts. I don’t want to bore you guys with more details, so I think that’s about it!

 

Here are some recent pictures of him.

 

One can be trusted off-leash, one cannot...

[BG and Gavin]

Oh my goodness, Hops is brilliant!  And so very cute.  You have done an excellent job training him!  Congratulations!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I am so impressed by this, I am just blown away. Thuy, I so admire your dedication to building a solid relationship with Hops, and the results are obvious. He is so quick to respond and seems so willing to please. I especially love his focus on you.

Kudos to you for your commitment to Hops, I know it will pay off for many years to come and Hops will always be the kind of dog that is a pleasure to have around.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Wow, that was really impressive. I'm inspired!

[Bonnie and Kona]

You and Hops are amazing! Congratulations on so carefully training your little guy. He is such a smart and obedient boy. It is clear that you two have a very special bond. Great work! Enjoy this special doodle. He is absolutely adorable.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thuy, thanks so much for posting this.  I think you can be an inspiration to lots of new puppy owners.  You have done an amazing job with Hops.  This just shows how much there is to gain from taking a little time each day to work with your puppy.  I really hope you continue with obedience training....he's a "natural" (and so are you), and who knows how far he could go with this.

[Connie & Kramer]

Thank you for sharing. That was fun to watch and gave me some ideas on new tricks we can incorporate into our training. I'm feeling the pressure to have a trick to demonstrate in our last puppy kindergarten class. Kramer is so good at home but enjoys being the class clown at our puppy school!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Ditto to what everyone has said ... adorable, excellent job on the training!  Mine are almost 4 and still not reliable off leash.